Little NoTongue
by NewtThatGotBetter
Summary: [oneshot] A brief look into Quina's childhood, why Quan left Qus Marsh and why Quale thinks Quan's such a tosser. More Q's than you can throw a frog at.


It's been several years since I wrote a fanfic so go easy on me people! Thought I'd start off with a short one-shot; damn I really need to practice my grammar. Alert me to any naff mistakes. Writing Qu style doesn't help either. O.o It's also been some time since I played FFIX so let me know if I've done anything incredibly inaccurate. There's not enough Quina fiction out there, so enjoy mini-Quina spazziness!

I own none of these people or FFIX, except Quok, who's a twonk so you can have him if you want. xD

* * *

"Hey little No-Tongue! You still frog fishing?" 

Quina sat on the edge of the frog pond ignoring the group of Qus behind her, her little stick and line bobbing about. Master Quale had told them whoever had caught the most frogs by the end of the day would get a brand new fork.

"You never get fork! You cannot catch one frog!" another taunted, his tongue flapping about most uncouthly.

Quina hunched up her shoulders and cast her line again. She hated the other adolescent Qus. She was the youngest of all of them and had yet to have matured into adulthood. Every other Qu on the marsh had their tongue, and Quina was just being left behind. Technically she should have had her tongue two Banquets (birthdays) ago.

"I get fork," she pouted, shifting slightly on her rock, "I get frog so big it be like ten frogs!"

"Ha! Even so you would no get fork. What No-Tongue have use for fork? You not catch frog right anyway, me show you," Quok, who happened to be the biggest meanest Qu on the marsh, dived forward into the pond and gripped a frog in one pale hand. The rest of the group cheered at his expertise; one-handed frog catching was quite a skill amongst the Qu.

"YOU GET MUD ON DRESS!" flailed Quina, dropping her rod and trying to scrub it out, which only made it worse. Tears came to her eyes as the Qus guffawed at her efforts. It was her favourite dress, and had been fishing as opposed to bare-hand catching as not to wreck it.

"Dress ruin!!! I eat you!!" she cried leaping at Quok, who was momentarily stunned by Quina's sudden outburst. They tumbled onto the floor as the Qus gathered round chanting 'Fight, Fight, Fight!!'

Quina grabbed his tongue and yanked as hard as she could. Quok roared in pain and anger. He grabbed the scruff of her dress and tossed her to the side, but not before she got a hold of his chef's hat. She hit the ground hard but got up quickly rubbing her likely bruised arm. Quok rolled onto his front and awkwardly rose to his feet, shooting a glare at Quina.

"You give hat now No-Tongue or there no be enough of you for worms to eat!" he growled. He clicked and one of his cronies brought over a fork. It was a basic, somewhat used fork, but a fork none-the-less. The ends were still sharp and lethal. Quina gulped and tottered back a step, still clutching onto the hat. The hat was a sign that a Qu that had succeeded Gourmand school. She knew it meant a lot to him, but she didn't want to give it up. She longed for one herself and saw it as a moment of triumph over him.

Quok started to advance. Quina took a few more steps backward but stumbled on a rock. When Quok started to charge and Quina thought she might be supper, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the action and into the swamp foliage. She was dazed for a few moments before she ran along with her saviour, the enraged yell of Quok fading away fast.

After a few moments of running they emerged into a small clearing. Quina collapsed on her rear panting heavily, adrenaline rushing through her system. She put her hand on her heart feeling it beat through her fingers, she hadn't felt this flustered since she caught her first frog.

It suddenly occurred to her that her saviour was peering at her, a mere few inches away. She looked up into the face of Quan, then immediately stuck her head between her knees to hide her furious blushing.

Quan was basically the poster Qu of the marsh. He had the large eyes and tongue that were admirable on the males, and his culinary skills were bested only by Quale himself. His kooky nature and strange outlook on things irritated Quale but it never stopped his food experimentation. Every female crushed on him and Quina was no exception, even though he was well into adulthood and she hadn't even got her tongue.

"You okay?" he asked lifting her chin with a finger. Quina stuck her head back into her knees and mumbled unintelligibly. Quan laughed but then turned serious.

"You look up now," he said, and after Quina did, "why you fight Quok and take hat? Is not Qu way."

Quina looked away embarrassed.

"He tease me because of no tongue and I want catch frogs to get fork," she muttered.

Quan sighed and sat next to her. He didn't say anything for a few minutes and then,

"Qu not judged by size of tongue," he said.

"Easy you to say! You have biggest!" Quina objected.

"I serious. There much more to Qu than tongue. What use tongue if cannot cook? Cannot catch?"

Quina mulled this over for a second.

"But I not catch, me only have rod," she said dejectedly, scribbling in the dirt in front of her.

"Rod good. Less energy wasted so able to spend more time frog catching," he nodded decisively. "Small detail like this that improve a Qu's skill. New idea good."

"Master Quale not like new," Quina pointed out, "he say tradition good enough for every Qu."

"If Qu never try new things how Qu meant to excel at gourmand!" he yelled making Quina jump and shy away. He kneaded his forehead and grunted,

"I sorry Quina; I not yelling at you. Quale… very infuriating."

Quina looked up at him worried. She admired him a lot, and the idea of trying new things seemed to appeal to her. However, being brought up on tradition and facing the wrath of Master Quale let her quite confused and indecisive. She really wanted to show the other Qus what's what though, but was it worth the risk?

She didn't know how long they sat in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. It was very peaceful though, with only the sound of chirping frogs splashing about in the ponds. The mid-day sun warmed her face and she wiggled her small toes in delight at being with Quan.

"I decide!" she announced standing up, "I try new things! I get lots and lots and lots of yummy froggies!"

Quan looked surprised at her decision, then his face broke into a smile (that is a wider smile than the smiles already plastered on their faces).

"You catch lots of froggies indeed," he said laughing. "You best be off if you want to catch frogs. I expect to see new fork at SunEnd."

Quina nodded enthusiastically and dashed off the way she came to retrieve her rod. Unfortunately she ran straight into Quok at her reappearance.

"No Quan to save No-Tongue this time!" he said triumphantly reaching down, but Quina was too full of inspiration to let the big hulk of a Qu get in her way. She stuffed his hat into his outstretched hands and ran to get her rod and bucket. She waved goodbye at the bemused lummox and trotted off towards a better frog spot.

She came across a well frogged pond and placed down her bucket. She tightened the line on her rod and made sure the hook was in place before casting somewhere towards the centre of the pond. In class they were told that frogs generally accumulated in the middle of the pond when a Qu was about. Normally a Qu would have to wait until some ventured towards the edge or hide then leap out. This was time consuming but there was little choice, except of course for Quina. It only took a few minutes for her to snag a frog. A small one, but a frog none-the-less. She almost squealed in delight but kept quiet as not to totally freak out the frogs. She dropped the wiggling thing into the bucket of water then cast again.

A full hour passed and Quina had caught almost half a bucket of frogs, but she still wasn't catching them fast enough. She'd seen a few Qus walk past with several buckets full. She twitched her rod and pondered as to how to catch them better. She looked into her bucket of frogs and her mind wandered to eating them as it always did.

She liked eating she knew that, did frogs like eating? The thought had never really occurred to her before, she only cared about her own stomach let alone the ones of frogs. Frogs needed to eat right? Gourmand Class taught that food was essential as well as enjoyable for _everything. _Everything included frogs presumably, but what did they eat?

She picked up some small stones and plonked them in with the frogs. They seemed completely uninterested. Quina scratched her head and pulled up some grass trying to stick it in their mouths; no joy there either. She grabbed a handful of mud and tried that, but it just served to make them dirty. Looking down she saw a worm wiggling in the space where she scooped up the mud. She plucked it up before it could burrow back into the soil and hung it over a frog. It looked up, beady eyes blinking. In a snap the worm was gone, dinner for the frog.

Quina grinned as she watched the frog devour the worm. Now that she knew what they ate, she could lure them in with worms! She burrowed into the mud until she had a good collection of worms in her hands. She hooked one then recast. It only took a few seconds this time for a frog to be caught. Quickly she threw it into the bucket, put a worm on her hook and cast. Another frog was caught even faster this time.

The day went on and Quina had to make several trips back and forth to her hut to deposit the frogs in the giant frog containers they had received. The other Qus watched in amazement as the container was swiftly filled and more had to be handed over. Quina enjoyed the steady purpling of Quok's face; his container was only three-quarters full.

A hush came over the village as Master Quale emerged from his hut. He surveyed the bustling young Qus as they desperately tried to catch a few last frogs before he sounded the gong. He smiled at their efforts and brought out the gong. He banged it three times, the sound resounding over the whole marsh even making the frogs silent. He slowly descended the steps as the Qus stood by their frog containers, their parents watching in hope that their child was best.

Quale inspected each frog container with pain-staking slowness. He loved this feeling of power, the hopes of young Qus could be easily dashed by a mere word from his mouth.

He stopped in awe as he came across the last container, or rather containers. There were so many frogs it made his mouth water. He looked around expecting to see a big magnificent Qu, but looked down to find the youngest and smallest of his class.

Quina beamed up at him happy as could be, incredibly proud with the work she had achieved.

Quale came down to her level, sitting on his haunches.

"How you... how you catch so many?" he asked quietly.

"I try new things Master Quale! I use rod and catch these frogs! Good, no?" she smiled and looked around to find Quan. To her bemusement he looked worried and apprehensive, causing her smile to slip.

Her smile completely disappeared when she saw that Quale's expression of disbelief and awe had changed into a face of fury. He stood up to his full height and glared down at Quina.

"Disqualify."

"What… why… why disqualify? What I do wrong?" she blustered going red at everyone staring at her. Quale sucked in a big breath as though to steady his fury.

"I teach you tradition. It work for many many Qus before me. It is honourable way to catch frogs."

"But…" Quina started.

"BUT YOU!" he bellowed, pointing the prize fork at her, "You toss tradition in swamp! You no have honour! No decency! You as bad as that bigot Quan!"

Quina fell backwards onto the floor, tears sliding down her pale skin. She stuck her head in her knees and started rocking as Quale continued his rant at her.

"That quite enough!" came the voice of Quan, making his way through the accumulated crowd to Quale. They stood in front of each other, both with their chests out sizing each other up. Quale spat on the floor.

"So you responsible for mess!" he glowered.

"It not mess at all! You eyes blind, you tongue not taste. You fail to see talent in gourmand!"

"There no talent here!!" Quale roared, but then he relaxed. A small smirk approached the corners of his mouth. "You try to bring Qus down don't you?"

"What?!" replied Quan aghast. Quina snapped her head up quickly wiping her eyes.

"You bad food, then you try to stink up next generation. You presence is dangerous."

Quans face was a portrait of horror as Quale was approaching his decision.

"You. You no…"

"I banish you," he said quietly. Though the sound was quiet every Qu heard it, and not one of them could believe it.

"NO!!" cried Quina getting up but Quan held her back with a hand. He smiled gently down at her then turned to face Quale again.

"So be it," he replied, to the outcry of half the village. He held up a hand to bring them to silence. "My gourmand here have not improve in long time. I now get to try world cuisine. My gourmand excel because of this. Quale do me favour," he shrugged. "I always want to visit Treno anyway. Now I can."

He patted Quina's head then made to his way to his hut, to make preparations to his departure. Quale looked triumphant for whole of two seconds then turned red as the village cheered for Quan. He gave one last glare at Quina then tossed the fork to Quok, who held it above his head in victory.

Quina didn't notice that she had lost, or that Quok kept casting pompous smirks in her direction. She had just learned something fantastic, and because of this Quan was leaving. Her mother came over lifted her into a hug but she couldn't feel it. She wiggled out her grip and ran off into the marsh, leaving the hubbub of the village far behind.

She searched until she found the spot where Quan had taken her earlier. She stood at the edge; tears still fresh as she wrung her dress guiltily. She found a spot near the edge of the pool and stood there, guilt eating her up.

"Quina? I thought you be here."

Quina spun around seeing Quan emerge from the reeds, a rucksack on his back and two forks in his grip.

"It my fault you go," she said gloomily turning away.

"Quale use any excuse to rid me. It not you fault at all." He said kindly, squeezing her shoulder. Quina sniffed but couldn't look at him. Instead a fork came into her view. Was Quan planning a quick snack before he left??

"It for you," he said. "You deserve fork."

Quina took it in shaking hands. Her very own fork, from Quan of all Qus!

"Th-thank you," she stammered, hardly able to believe it.

"You make good chef some day," he said wiping the tears from her face. "And I sure you get magnificent tongue too."

With that he turned and left, Quina watching until she could see him no more. She gripped her fork tightly and went back to the village.

* * *

Well I hope you enjoyed. If anyone seemed ooc, it's because this is in the past, which you should have figured out anyway. Here after Quina concentrates on froggies because Quan gave her the fork, and when most of the tribe left the village she becomes incredibly self-centered, especially around her stomach. Because Quina's at an impressionable age when she returns to the village, Quan manages to coax her back into the old ways of diving after frogs, which is why the way she is when Zidane and the gang pop up. And Quale becomes less of a goit after he realises how wrong he was about Quan (though refuses to admit it) and pleads Zidane to take the pink thing away. Or it's all a dumb excuse for out of character peoples, your choice. 

Reviews appreciated, flamers shall be newted. :D


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